President Of Brazil To Meet China’s Top Leader For Peace Plan

President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is set to pitch a peace plan for Ukraine when he meets China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing.

The Brazilian leader suggested that China should be part of a global effort to bring about peace talks, arguing that countries not directly involved in the conflict are better positioned to mediate the negotiations.

The position of Brazil  on the war in Ukraine is complicated by its reliance on Russia for about a quarter of its fertilizer imports, which are crucial to the South American nation’s enormous agriculture industry.

Brazil is Russia’s largest buyer of fertilizer, purchasing roughly $1.9 billion in chemicals from Russia in 2019. Fertilizer is big business for Russia, but is still dwarfed by its oil and gas exports.

Bringing Mr. Xi his thoughts on a potential path to peace for Ukraine puts Brazil back into the geopolitical conversation after Mr. Bolsonaro’s contentious and isolationist administration.

China has also presented itself as a possible mediator in the war. Last month, Mr. Xi traveled to Russia to meet with Mr. Putin. President Emmanuel Macron of France, who has himself offered to mediate, traveled to Beijing last week to meet with Mr. Xi and discuss Ukraine.

There have been no known peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv since last April, and each side insists it has no interest in a cease-fire.